Category Archives: Be A Money Savvy Bride

Quite literally in fact. Our wedding day is tomorrow. I managed to give all their bridesmaids their gifts, which i’ll upload later, make the apple butter, buy tea, print programs, and get pretty much everything done. None of this would have been possible without the help of my parents, but the fact of the matter is, I did a lot of money cutting even though we ended up spending a good chunk of change on this wedding.

When L made our programs we were going to just print them from home, but after talking with my sisters we realized it would be a whole hell of a lot cheaper to get them printed at Office Max than to buy ink and paper. I ended up spending $70 on programs as opposed to $150. We bought off brand of Crystal Lite to put on the tables instead of having punch.

My sister found some little containers at the dollar store for the apple butter favors. She spent maybe $30 on those as opposed to us buying jars from Michael’s at $20 a box. We WERE going to put bread and apple cider with the containers, but after looking at prices, we cut out the bread and opted for tea instead of cider. That right there probably saved us $100. Cider is a lot more expensive than I thought. I can honestly say I am 100% satisfied with everything. We had our mishaps like any wedding, but I do believe our bachelor and bachelorette parties loosened us up quite a bit.

I am so unbelievably and utterly prepared to get this done. I am all sorts of focused to make paper airplanes, gather the guest favors together, and make cupcakes. We ended up getting more RSVP’s than what we thought we would so instead of getting a bigger cake, we’re making cupcakes.

As time draws closer to the wedding I begin to get jitters. Not the regular “oh my god I’m going to get married” jitters because we’re already married, but the “oh my god what if this whole thing falls apart” jitters.

There are still things that I feel like need to get done that aren’t and I’m not entirely sure where to start. I have a month and a half to finalize everything. I had hopes that I would have more replies by now, but I don’t and I realize that’s normal. Still, I wish I had a final head count and I know for a fact I’m awaiting replies from people who I’m unsure are coming or not. We have to contact that caterer and give her a final head count so that we know how much we’re spending and she knows how much food to make. I still haven’t given my DJ the deposit, and I’m pretty effing sure I’m going to have to use my credit card for the $200 I owe him because I’m broke.

I made some sugar scrubs. I spent $80 on the ingredients and got home and realized i didn’t need as much as I bought, so now I have a new goal for Christmas presents since I am up to my elbows in lotions, essential oils, and coconut oil. They turned out pretty freaking well and after the first one I kind of just went with it and made up my own little recipe. I’m proud of myself. I know it’s not a big feat, but it’s something I’ve never done before and I thought it turned out pretty awesome. I kept left overs for myself, and gave my first one to our neighbor so we could be guinea pigs together.

As it gets closer to the wedding, I’m trying to think of MORE ways I can save us money, but at this point I’m not sure if it’s possible. Right now all we need to worry about is paying all our vendors….there’s no more money-saving we can do with them since we’ve already cut back so much. I wish I knew more people who I knew would volunteer or do this shit for free. Partly because I’m cheap, mostly because I’m broke.

So while I’m putting together the bridesmaids gift baskets or whatever you want to call them. I’m trying to find the cheapest, cutest, cheesiest things I can. I found some wine glasses at Wal-Mart. South Carolina souvenirs that I’m pretty sure I’m buying because they’re awesome and dumb. At the same time, I’m trying to think of gifts to give the woman who is doing our vows. We were never able to get her a gift back in December, so I want to make sure it’s a good one. Speaking of ceremony…I still haven’t looked over the options for the ceremony, I haven’t gotten our sand or the vases for it, and I haven’t emailed the DJ about our songs.

I also need to figure out gifts for our ring bearer and flower girl, and put together little coloring books for the kids that will be there. On top of that I need to buy ink pads for our thumbprint tree and buy a pen for the actual guest book. AND we need to get hand wipes for our guest to clean their fingers after they’ve done so. I know these are little things that can wait but I can’t help but freak out ever so slightly. The bridezilla in me is scratching the surface.

The hubby thinks, and I agree, that about 4 days before the wedding she will break her way through. I don’t think that she will be the one that will be sitting there saying “I’m the bride do what I say.” but she’ll be an emotional wreck and in an awful mood. I. Can’t. Wait. I’m going to work my ass off to make sure she doesn’t scratch her way to the surface, but I can feel it boiling deep inside me like a demon that needs to be exercised.

I explained to my mother that every day I am home that I am going to have to carefully plan out each day. I have favor jars to buy, apple butter and candied pecans to make, paper airplanes to make, noise makers and glow sticks to buy, kegs to buy, menu for the rehearsal dinner to finalize, finish the bridesmaids gifts, finish our officiant’s gift, communicate with our vendors, and I still need to buy the cake topper and my garters.

So the story goes, at first I wanted to do skeleton keys for a guest favor from an Etsy shop. She wanted $200. That went out the window. I continued to search for guest favors because I wanted to do something a little different since each aspect of our wedding screams “this is us…we did this ourselves.” I thought of doing candles, coasters, candy, or nothing at all. The thing is, I want to do SOMETHING because I know it’s customary, and I wanted to let my guests know that I was thankful they were there…without spending a god awful amount of money.

Later on, I found a recipe for “Berry White Tea” favors. I though “OOH! I could make some tea bags, get some cheap-o tea cups, and honey sticks! Perfect!” Here’s the issue with this: while it’s a neat idea, it’s cute, I would LOVE to do it, by the time I buy enough to give each of my guests their own tea bags, their own tea-cup, and 2 honey sticks a piece, I will have probably spent the same if not more than what was requested for the skeleton keys.

I sat here and sighed to myself, shaking my head at each and every favor idea I saw on The Knot, until I saw a link that said “fall wedding favor ideas.” As a last attempt, since I was on the verge of just buying some cheap ass flavorless candy and lame aluminum tins, I figured “what the hell, let’s just see what they have”

Two items on the list were apple butter and candied pecans. Hm…here are the facts:
I can bake
I don’t have to worry about making multiples for each guest
This is probably 90% cheaper
The only thing that’s going to cost some money is the jars

SOLD!

I spoke with my mother and told her the situation. Every time I talk about guest favors she tries to talk me out of it. The hubby doesn’t want to do guest favors. I’m holding my ground on this. I want my guests to know our appreciation for coming out to our wedding when we’ve taken the time to plan it and include them. They were invited because they are important parts of our lives. They’re traveling from different states. I. Want. To. Do. It. The list consists of the following:

Caramel apples

Soy candles

Autumnal Shaped Chocolates

Mini Maple Syrup Bottles

Apple Cider Mix

Pumpkin Spice soaps

Individual apple tarts

Sunflower seeds

Fresh candied pecans

Apple Butter

Here’s my thinking on it.
1. Carmel apples while fun are going to be a little more expensive.
2. Soy candles, again something I love, would be expensive and I don’t have time to make each one…or the money to do it.
3. Unless I can make my own chocolate, find a mold, and do it for relatively cheap…not happening.
4. That’s weird, right? Maple syrup?
5. HOLY BALLS THAT CHEAP! I can probably go to the grocery store, buy the packets and attach them to whatever it is I’m doing haha!
6. Pumpkin spice soaps? hm….interesting….I like pumpkin spice lattes. I wouldn’t even know where to start with this. Where the hell would I even find it? I’m a little confused by this one. I feel like it’d be more like a decorative thing than to actually use it. And who the hell uses bar soap any more? Just a FYI I’m not knocking the idea because I think it’s a neat idea for like your bridesmaids if you’re doing a pampering theme for their gifts, but I would feel weird giving my male guests such a girly scent.
7. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah. fucking. right. Not only would this be me either slaving away in the kitchen crying over dough not rising, apples not being cooked, or the fact that I just sliced my finger or me plucking dollar bills off of the money tree in the back yard, it would be in-fuckng-sane for me to think I could pull this off in time, on my own, the night before the wedding. No thank you.
8. While I enjoy sunflower seeds, I hate the mess. I can’t imagine how “grateful” the parents would be for me giving their children sunflower seeds to make a massive mess with. No thank you.
9. (this is where I got intrigued) I make a shit load of candy during the Christmas season. I mean, I’m up at 8 am, baking all day, packaging it up to the correct people, and then in bed at 2 am. I can do these easy…found a recipe here. Seriously, how freakin’ easy is that!?
10. Oh. Em. Gee. YES!

I can’t give you a specific recipe for the apple butter since I haven’t found one yet that I’m ready to stick to. I have 3 in mind at the moment.

Point being, the only thing I’m really spending money on is the jars. I can make a big freakin’ batch of this shit and separate it up between all the jars. I no longer have to worry about multiple favors for each family instead I can just give one per family and they can share. I’m going to make an insanely large amount of candied pecans, and split them up with the apple butter jars, and attach an apple cider mix with each one. Add a little tag that says “Falling in love” or some such nonsense. Once I get everything set in stone, I’ll give an estimate of money I spent and step by step whatever.

This is another clear case of me forgetting about my talents and how I can use them to my advantage. It’s also another way for me to make our wedding a little more intimate.

Using your resources and remembering vendors you’ve either used before, or have heard of. This might be repetative, but it’s true. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends. Just Don’t. FORGET. TO. THANK. Don’t be afraid to ask for what kind of special discounts your vendors can offer either. This includes military and so many units over a certain number, etc…whatever.

I have a friend that is going to school for graphic design (I think), and he made a comment one day about making my invitations. Together, through a series of e-mails, Facebook messages, and talks over coffee, we came up with the perfect set of invitations and response cards. He’s also going to be our only usher at the wedding and I’m thrilled he’s a part of the ceremony in more than one way.

Yes they’re plain, but they’re perfect for us. I added a rhinestone in the middle of the flower on the invitation and some ribbon on the left side and they turned out fantastic.

I have another friend that is making our wedding programs. I don’t have a picture of them currently because we’re still communicating on how we want them to look.

When we decided to do this in South Dakota, we remembered that we have a mutual friend that works at The Canyon Lake Chophouse. They have amazing food. I THINK he got us a bit of a discount, but I’m not 100% sure. Carrie’s been great about keeping in touch with me so we can figure out how much food we need, what kind of food we want, and when we want food served.

Last year, my sisters and I got a cake from Piece of Cake for my parents’ anniversary party. It was delicious, it wasn’t your regular bakery store cake. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but it wasn’t overly sugary, and their filling options are awesome. Her communication with me on what exactly I want is phenomenal.

I know a girl whose mother is a preacher. She married us in December, and she was my first thought when we decided to do our wedding in South Dakota.

Utilize your talents. Whether it’s scrap booking, crocheting, knitting, or crafting things by hand. I of all people know this is a huge undertaking, but it’s 100% worth it on a number of levels. It adds a bit of uniqueness to your wedding, it gives you sentimental keepsakes, and your guests will be impressed by how much time you invested.

Now, the 4 tools I invested in, that at the time were the best use of my money I could think of, why four should be your max, and why I no longer use them:

A wedding planning book. It’s like a day planner for your wedding. It’s awesome

a book called 1,000 Best Secrets For Your Perfect Wedding.

Real Simple Wedding magazine

Martha Stewart Weddings magazine

Now when we first started the wedding planning process, these four items were the most amazing things in the world. I probably looked at them all 5 times a day. I was able to get ideas. I was able to form an idea. I was able to visualize our wedding. I added a note book to the mix so I could get all of my collected thoughts and wants in one place. I filled 20 pages front and back with things I wanted to do during the ceremony, during the reception, music I wanted and didn’t want, ideas for decor, ideas for special thanks for parents, and ideas for the wedding party.

I searched countless websites even after I committed to The Knot. I went to Target and Michael’s and still looked through wedding books. Then my brain exploded. I broke down. I had no ideas. I had no clue what I wanted. I set it aside and stuck to facts. White wedding. Pink and orange accents.

The problem I had was that I was in wedding overload. I had every website, magazine, and DIY wedding books SCREAMING at me. Do this. Don’t do this. Think about this. Don’t forget about this. Ignore this. Remember that.

I put those things in a tote, and set them in the closet. They’ve been sitting in the closet until 2 days ago. That’s 4 months they’ve been sitting stagnant in the closet. The reason I took it out was because I thought I have a pretty good handle on the ceremony and reception, now I can use the tools in the wedding planner and look at more DIY stuff without feeling overwhelmed.

It’s like trying on 50 dresses and not being able to make a decision. It’s a sensory overload. If you can’t make a decision on anything after you’ve looked at countless magazines and websites. Put it all aside and focus on one thing. ONE. For me, it was the invitations. If you can get one thing nailed down, the rest will come to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is, pick out two magazines, one book of ideas, and a planner. They will give you the tools you need to get yourself started.

Remember: just saying the word “wedding” can cost you a lot of money. Try to avoid it if it’s possible. I tested this theory. I’m convinced I proved my point. If you can’t avoid using the word, do NOT be afraid to ask what kind of discounts your vendors offer.
Keep your options open. Look around for the best price. That aisle runner you’re eyeing at David’s Bridal, it’s 50% cheaper on Amazon. The cake topper you’re looking at online, guess what? It’s probably cheaper in the store. Not only that, but you can probably find something cute or quite possibly the same thing at a second hand store or in an antique store.

Your wedding isn’t about how much money you can spend or how you can impress your guests with some lavish 5 hour event with things you’ll just end up throwing away. Your wedding should be about you and your fiancee. Your wedding should reflect your style as a couple. If that style is over-the-top, go for it. If you’re both simple, keep it simple. An event the reflects anything other than what you guys are, will just look pretentious. Your wedding should be fun for everyone involved.

Don’t settle for your big chain store prices. Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts. And more importantly, don’t forget to breathe. Take some time for yourself, and give yourself a break from the wedding planning madness.

Er….maybe…more for me, though. I said before that I was having a slumber party for my bridesmaids and me the night before the wedding. The reasoning behind this is to make sure that we were all in one place for the hair appointment the next day, because I rarely get to hang out with all of them at one time, I haven’t seen any of them in a while, and because there will be a ton of last minute crafts before the wedding. That aside, I wanted to make it fun since I will be providing food, drinks, and giving them their maids gifts that night.

A while ago, I found this wonderful idea for sleep mask invites. Go here to view them. I fiddled around with the idea of making the outline myself, but I can’t draw worth a damn. I did some Google-ing and found this:

Feel free to steal the image…really. It might save you some Google time.

So I went from there. It took me 2 days to figure out what to do. It was an “ah-ha!” moment. I still had scrapbook paper left over. I have a ton of ribbon still. I also still had rhinestones left over from when I did the wedding invitations.

I got on The Print Shop, used the outline, added the invitation portion to it, and printed them off 2 per page on regular printer paper. I glued the whole paper to the back of a piece of scrap book paper and THEN cut it out. I figured this would be easiest and would save me some time. I punched a hole in each side, attached some ribbon, and put the first initial of each name on the prospective invites.

Total cost for me: $0 (because I still had this stuff left over)
Making them yourself without having any of the items: probably around $10

Here’s the result:

In all actuality you could use this pattern not just for a bridesmaids slumber party, but for a girl’s birthday party….which I think was the point of the blog I linked you to.

Anyhow, there ya go. Another idea, maybe not a money saving one, but one that will give you an opportunity to bond with your girls without the craziness of a bachelorette party.

When I asked my nephew to be the ring bearer at the wedding, he seemed slightly confused. He’d never heard of such a task, but since I asked him to do it, and sound really excited about it, he was really excited about it.

He is 4 years old, unbelievably smart, and thrilled to have such an important role in the ceremony. I explained to him that he would be dressed very nice and walk down a long aisle, holding a pretty pillow. That tied to it would be our rings. That we simply couldn’t do the ceremony without him. “That’s weird Auntie Kelley” he said, but then “That sounds like fun!” Later on the hubby explained that they would be dressed exactly the same (or close to it) and since my nephew is absolutely smitten with my hubby, stars filled his eyes and his excitement grew. We keep reminding him of what an important role he has, and every time we ask him, he says “I’m carrying a pillow made of rings.” We all get a kick out of it, but then tell him, “No, you’re carrying a pillow that has rings ON it.” He laughs and says “Duh!” and smiles his huge toothy grin.

Onto the pillow!

When I was looking at ring pillows, as I had said before, the one I was looking at, while simple, was about $35 or $40. Not that that’s an astronomical amount of money, but it was more than I wanted to spend. Truth be told, those things can get PRICEY. Why, though? It’s a ten inch pillow adorned with some ribbon and flower. That’s all it is.

I started weighing my options. What could I do to make my own pillow? I looked in every nook and cranny of every craft store, home store, and discount store and couldn’t find a single small white pillow that I could dress up. So I started with the facts:

I can knit, simply, but I can knit
I can crochet.
I can use a sewing needle
I have a sewing machine, but I’m not well versed in how to use it.
I have ribbon
I have fiberfill stuffing
I have a few silk flowers left

Now, to sort of preface…mid-face…whatever…I’m not entirely sure about this ring bearer pillow yet. ONLY BECAUSE I found this after I had already made the one I now possess. I’m still in process of debating whether or not to rip out the ribbon and flowers that currently embellish my knitted pillow and make a silk flower to go on the top. It’s a decision I’ll have to make soon. It seems relatively easy for my crafty hands to do, and I’m 100% positive I can pull it off. I think it’ll be a matter of trial and error, but nonetheless possible. Something like that, would probably cost you the same amount of money that the pillow I made, cost me. Just some food for thought.

There are also some really wonderful ideas for alternative, cheap ring bearer pillows on that Martha Stewart site. I’ve gotten a lot of ideas courtesy of Martha Stewart. That bitch is crafty. Check out her whole wedding site.

ANYWAY. Here’s the pillow and how I made it. Take it as you will. You are welcome to the pattern, to recreate it, and add whatever adornments you wish.

What You’ll Need

1 Skein Aran Red Heart Super Saver

1 skein of a shiny yarn in white (I used the baby stuff. Red heart makes it. Not the heavy stuff, but the lighter, thinner strand of baby yarn)

Size 5.5mm knitting needle

7/8″ ribbon, color of your choice

1/2″ ribbon, color of your choice

Small silk wildflowers of your choosing

Sewing needle

Thread to match ribbon

scissors

Embroidery thread

Yarn Needle

Fiberfill stuffing

Working with both strands of yarn, cast on 38 stitches
Knit the first row, purl the next row. Continue in this fashion until it has reached your desired size.
(Here comes the most unhelpful portion of the blog) I can’t remember how many rows I did. It was somewhere between 26 and 32 rows I think.
Cast off your stitches loosely, and fasten off.
Make two.

When those are finished, figure out which one you wish to be the top, and which to be the bottom. Take the piece you wish to be the top, and embroider your initials in the top left corner.
Take your wider ribbon, find the center of your top piece, and sew ribbon on top and on bottom, leaving the middle loose and unattached to the piece.
Cut 18″ from the smaller sized ribbon, slide underneath the first ribbon, and tie in a knot around the wider ribbon.
With your sewing needle, and thread, attach the center of your ribbons to the middle of the top piece of the pillow to secure it in place.
Take both pieces, and with one color of your yarn and yarn needle, begin sewing both pieces together. Work around three edges.
With the last edge unworked, begin stuffing your pillow with the fiberfill stuffing.
Begin sewing the last edge, stuffing as you go until it reaches your desired firmness. Sew until finished. Fasten off.

Slide stems of your silk flowers underneath the wider ribbon where it isn’t sewn down, and bend the tops so they sit on top of the wider ribbon. With your smaller sized ribbon, tie a knot around the flowers to hold them in place. Secure it with hot glue if desired.

If I decide to make the flower to go on it instead I’ll upload that picture.

This isn’t REALLY a money saving thing completely, but it’s more like my opinion on the flower situation.

This was the first question I asked myself when we started wedding planning. I toyed with the idea of having gardenias, lilies, daisies, and or roses. I didn’t know whether or not to go real or fake. The further into the wedding planning we got, the more I thought about the option of not having flowers all and doing something a little different. My oldest sister sent me a link to a brooch bouquet since we originally were going with a vintage and classy feel. I looked through a long list of Etsy shops, contacted a total of probably 6 shop owners, and finally found one that suited my likes.

I was shocked that I chose the ones I did because I always thought that I would have real flowers. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I wanted to have a bouquet I could keep forever and not have to worry about spending extra money to preserve it.

We’re not having floral decorations for the reception or the wedding either unless I decide to make some. I just can’t justify spending money on expensive flowers when they’re probably just going to be thrown away. I’m aware it would add some beauty to the feel of it, but I might as well just be putting $100 bills in the trash. I guess looking at the situation, I did KIND OF save us money because this was a total of $500 compared to the $1,000+ we would have spend buying real flowers. Anyway here’s what we ended up with from the Etsy shop Autumn and Grace Bridal.

I’m really excited about it. It’s different. It’s a keepsake. It made me smile. Autumn’s communication with me about how I wanted the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres to look was outstanding! I couldn’t be happier right now!

When I began researching a bunch of DIY projects for the wedding I came across this site. They have a TON of free printable downloads for invitations, thank you notes, “Will you be my….” cards, save the dates, custom monograms, wedding labels and signs, and even holiday cards. I used the photo booth template and created this:

Did the same thing with this that I did with the I Spy games. I printed it on regular paper, glued it to some scrapbook paper, and tied some ribbon to it so it could hang.

Use that site though. They have a lot of inspiration on their site, and a lot of free stuff if you’re not feeling creative enough to create your own wedding invites and what not. And you know what, I’m going to be a little bit honest here and say that I’m a little fucking annoyed that I didn’t see this or this before I bought two of these. I may just return one and print off the bicycle for the second guestbook. Who knows.

This will probably be the simplest of all the projects I’m about to post. Seriously.

I wanted to do something for my guests to mingle and have fun with. I wanted to do something more than “Here’s a disposable camera, take some pictures and shit.” I originally got the idea from here. I did some research on the interweb and found a number of Etsy sites that were more than willing to sell me the file for the game at $8 (the cheapest) or $15 for a set of 6 (also the cheapest). So, on my own, I compiled a list of pictures to take, set it up 2 on a page, bought some scrapbook paper and a glue stick, and did some cutting.

This would also be a good activity if you have some lag time between the end of your ceremony and the beginning of your reception. For the sake of making things easier, if you’d like the template I used, give me your email address and I’ll forward it to you. Here’s the end result:

You’ll need to make a list of all the pictures you’d like your guests to take, scrapbook paper, scissors, and a glue stick. We’re putting 2 or 3 on each table along with the cameras. Look for a tablet of scrapbook paper that’s on sale. I got mine at Michael’s for $4.99. A glue stick is a glue stick, buying the more expensive brand won’t make sure that it sticks any more or any less. You’ll be fine buying the 89 cent glue stick. Cut your games to size and glue it to the scrapbook paper, then cut that to size to create a border. DONE!

As I stated before, saving money has been a BIG hit with us for the wedding planning process. The flower girl basket I had been eyeing was way out of my spending range. Not because it was $100, but because, honestly, I don’t make the kind of money required to spend $40 or $50 on a basket that was either going to get ripped or throw away because it held no other use. Since I wanted to invest some special, personal touches into the wedding, I kept inspecting the basket that held all my Valentine’s Day gifts like a private investigator, (seriously…I stared at that thing for 30 minutes at a time trying to figure out what I could do to it). I spent days researching DIY flower girl baskets, and each one I saw, I wasn’t sold on because I felt like it looked like a Home-Ec project. In all the time that came with staring at it I gathered this much information before I figured out what needed to be done with it:

So I took the first logical step, I went to Michael’s, found a color of pink that I felt best suited our needs, used the wooden box that our patio table came in, and sprayed the shit out of it. When it was all said and done, I looked at it. The color was flat. It didn’t look the way I thought it would. It wasn’t shiny at all. It was a disgusting pastel pink that made me think of a newborn’s bedroom. I was so incredibly disappointed. Why was this not working out? What else could I add to it? I played with ribbon, I took some silk flowers I had sitting around and tried to put them on there and came up with nothing.

Distraught I took it back to Michael’s. I thought “This is a craft store. Some one here HAS to have an opinion on what I could do.” I talked to 4 extremely uncreative and non-helpful employees before I finally went to the floral department and slumped onto the counter. The man working at the desk looked at me and said “what’s wrong honey?” Exasperated, I explained the situation and told him I was just over-all frustrated with what was going on with the basket. He examined it for a bit and then said, “You know what? Come with me. Let’s find some flowers for this.” Within 5 minutes, we added some silk flowers, ribbon, and greenery and I was sold. I picked up a sparkly top coat of spray paint and went home. Here’s the end result

So here’s my tip (followed by things you’ll need to make or recreate this basket) USE YOUR RESOURCES. If you’re having a creative block, go to a craft store and either walk the aisles or ask the floral arrangement desk for opinions, advice, or help. Seriously, I’m not even kidding. People work at service desks for a reason. In my despair of running out of ribbon for the millionth time while doing my invitations, I went to AC Moore, armed with a completed invitation and spoke with the woman working at the Floral desk. She helped me find ribbon that we thought “might look okay” and when I put them together with the ribbon she helped pick out, I realized it was actually the look I was hoping for in the first place. I went back and graciously thanked her and showed her the end result of what happened with the ribbon we thought was mediocre.

Now that I’ve gotten completely off topic here’s what you need.

A basket (you could find this ANYWHERE. I mean ANYWHERE. Go to Wal-Mart, Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, Pamida…You can find a wicker basket with a handle for relatively cheap just about anywhere)

Tarp or box to spray paint on (or your driveway if you don’t care that much)

Spray paint, your choice of color.

Sparkly top coat of spray paint (if you want it

Floral wire

Hot glue

3 large gerber daisy stems

Stem of greenery

Ribbon (thickness and color of your choice)

Spray paint the basket and let it dry over night. If you need to do a second layer (and chances are you will) apply then next day, and let it dry. Apply your sparkly coat the next day (if you choose to do this.) Figure out where and how you want the flowers to be on the basket, cut the stems off close to the basket, and apply hot glue to secure them in place. The problem I encountered was getting them to stay 100% even after I glued them in place, SO, I wrapped the area in the floral wire. Wrap the greenery around the area how you’d like for it to sit so that it’s covering the wire, and glue in place. For the finishing touch, tie your ribbon on and glue it in place. Check it the following day to make sure that nothing has detached itself from the basket. You’re done.

Total cost (for me): $10

I wanted something that my flower girl could have that I didn’t have to worry about it getting tattered or destroyed. Kids will be kids and they will use these things in their playtime. While I’d be disappointed if it got broken, I wouldn’t mind as much as I would if I had spent $40 on it. It’s sentimental and it’s a personal touch! I sent a picture we’re almost certain my cousin will love it. Let’s face it though, what girl doesn’t love anything that has flowers or sparkles in it?